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Book Review of When the Sea is Rising Red

When the Sea is Rising Red
ophelia99 avatar reviewed on + 2527 more book reviews


I have been wanting to read this book for some time. I read Hellisen's Beastkeeper and loved it and immediately looked for other books by her. There was a lot I liked about this story; the world, the characters, and the interesting writing style which is lyrical and yet somehow passive and a bit ambiguous.

This is an interesting world with a heroine that has a somewhat typical historical issue; she is slated for an arranged marriage that she wants to escape. I loved the way magic was handled and found Felicita, Jannik and Dash to be intriguing characters; although I would have liked to get to know them all a bit better.

While the world is interesting, in the end I kept feeling like not much had happened and was left wondering what the point was. The story is just written in a way that is kind of passive yet still reads as being beautiful and magical. It's a unique writing style but doesn't come across as very urgent.

Overall this was a quick read and I enjoyed it. However, I am still absorbing some of the story I think and will have to determine at a later date whether or not I will continue the series and continue reading Hellisen as an author. I keep finding myself thinking about the story but also find myself thinking that the writing was a bit simplistic for me and could have been filled out more.